Yes, they didn't expect things to go sour and yes they were still pretty much ready. But they also expected to at least knock the door, confront Juliet, and then see some reactions. They sure weren't ready for being attacked from a window.
Miss Park had told them that Juliet, or Elina as she had used the name, wasn't aware of the fact that NCIS was looking for her. She hadn't even mentioned anything about them working on her sister's case. She was sure that Juliet didn't know that they wanted to question her. But apparently Juliet was cautious enough to check everyone who approached the house.


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Everything had happened so fast. Merely one second before everything started, Tony caught a glimpse of a gun from the corner of his eye and then he saw Juliet aiming her gun towards them. He knew he didn't have enough time to pull out his gun and take Juliet down before she could pull the trigger, so he did the only thing that came to his mind.

Shoving Gibbs aside, he plunged forward to avoid getting shot.

'One second too late.' He thought when he felt a hot pain run through his arm.

Pushing himself up, Gibbs pulled Tony towards the door, where they were out of Juliet's sight. Miss Park flung the door open and ran towards them. "Oh my God. What the hell is going on? He's shot. Oh, I didn't know Elina was a suspect or that she had a gun. I mean I know you didn't want her to know anything, but this? Oh God. I'm so sorry." She knelt beside Tony.

"Hey, I'm fine. It's just a flesh wound." Tony reassured. "Does your place have a back door?"

"Of course it has. But Elina can't get out of there. I have a big bulldog and she hates her by all means." She replied.

"Good. Then you stay here. Whatever happens, I want you to stay here. You hear me Lieutenant Park?" Gibbs said in his best Marine voice.

"Yes, Sir." She obeyed.

Gibbs and Tony started to get inside the house. "How bad is your wound?"

"Not bad. Like I said, just a flesh wound." Tony said quietly.

"Oh, I'm fine too. Except that I'm going to have a bruised shoulder in a few hours." Gibbs quipped.

"I'm not sorry. Bruised shoulder is better than a hole in your head."

Gibbs glared at him but now wasn't the time to show his emotions or to thank Tony for saving his life; or for telling him that he did a great job. They had a serial killer to arrest.

"NCIS. Juliet Ricks put your weapon down and leave the room, slowly." Gibbs yelled.

"You can come and catch me if you want me so bad."

"Or I can come in and put a bullet in your head. Come out with your hands up." Tony shouted as they almost reached the room that had her inside.

Tony's voice caught her attention; she didn't have a good view from her position, so she couldn't see Tony's face. His voice was familiar, though.

That was the distraction they needed, jumping into the room, they surprised her. She turned to run from the other side but was stopped by Ziva and McGee, who had just arrived and entered the room from the back. Miss Park was standing behind them, trying to hold her dog back.

"Juliet Ricks, or should I say Elina Markham? You're under arrest for committing five murders and attempted murder of a federal agent." Gibbs said and motioned to Ziva to read her her rights and cuff her.

"I thought I told you to stay out." He said to the lieutenant in a grumpy voice.

"Someone had to keep Sady from tearing your agents apart." She shrugged.

Gibbs shook his head in amusement. "Thank you for your cooperation. We'll need you later at NCIS to take your statement."

"I'll be there today afternoon." She nodded before escorting them out of her house as they left.

"DiNozzo, with me. You two get her to the office and put her in an interrogation room. Nobody talks to her before I come back. Clear?"

"Yes." They both nodded.

...

Gibbs drove Tony to the hospital for his arm, not listening to him when he insisted to being checked by Ducky. Gibbs wanted to make sure that Tony didn't need to stay the night in the hospital.

True to Tony's words, it was just a flesh wound, but it still needed some stitches. They left the hospital an hour later and headed towards their car.

Tony groaned as Gibbs hit him hard over the head again. "Oww, Boss. You're getting a little too harsh in your head slaps, you know?" He rubbed his head with his free hand; the other was in a sling.

"That was for being reckless." Gibbs noted, then turned around and stood in front of Tony, looking him straight in the eyes. He put his hand on Tony's cheek and patted slowly. "Thanks for saving my life."

Tony smiled. "Anytime, Boss."

"You owe me 20 bucks." Gibbs said as he walked towards their car.

Tony's eyes widened. "What for?"

"I won the bet."

"What bet?"

"You doubted yourself, I didn't. Turned out I was right."

Tony felt delighted as his boss' word. "Yeah, OK. But we haven't bet on it."

"I have."

"Huh. Of course." Tony chuckled and shook his head in amusement.

...

Back at the office they went straight to the interrogation room but before they could enter, Abby appeared out of nowhere and slammed herself into Tony.

"Tony, Oh God. I was so worried. Are you alright?"

"He'll be, Abby if you let him breathe. You're hurting his arm." Gibbs gently pulled Abby away. "Oh my God, You're hurt again. That's not fair, why didn't anyone tell me anything?"

"He saved my life." Gibbs informed.

"Boss." Tony growled.

Gibbs smiled inwardly. He was proud of Tony, but not because he had taken a bullet for him, he was just thankful for that.

No, he was proud because Tony had his six even when he was struggling with his emotions and battling his demons. He was proud that his best agent and partner had been able to pull himself through every trouble, one more time; proving everyone, including himself, that he was way stronger than anyone could imagine.

"Oh, you saved him again, Tony." She pulled him into another hug.

Tony patted her back. "It comes with the job, Abs and you know it. Are you alright?"

"Me? Of course I'm alright. Actually I've never been better. You're gonna go in there and tear that bitch a new one, right?"

Gibbs smirked in response.

"I'll watch it from the observation room." She said excitedly, bouncing up and down, before entering the observation room. Once inside, she froze and her face darkened when she found McGee and Ziva there. "You shouldn't be here. Go back to your desks. There's nothing for you to watch."

"We brought her in. We have the right to stay." Ziva said back.

"Yeah, but Tony and Gibbs -" she stopped mid-sentence. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea for them to stay and watch. She decided to let them stay, so she just turned her attention to the big glass and remained silent.

In the other room, Juliet looked up as Tony and Gibbs entered the room. "I remember you." She said to Tony and smirked. "we had so much fun. Maybe we could repeat it some other time."

"You remember when I said you're not my type? Guess what, you're still not my type. Like I said, I don't date crazy bitches who counts raping people a leisure activity." Tony said calmly. His icy tone surprised even himself. He always thought that if he could find Juliet, he'd strangle her with his bare hands. But now he was so calm, so indifferent, and so professional. It was that moment when he realized that he had finally moved on.

"I want a lawyer."

"Oh you'll need one. Although I'd say that there's no way they would be able to help you. Is there, DiNozzo?"

Tony shook his head. "No. Not with a witness alive and not with a coward partner who's confessed to all the crimes; and sure not with her fingerprints all over Steve's place."

She cursed under her breath and folded her arms.

Gibbs nodded. "No way out of this. So you better talk and save us some precious time. Or you could waste the time; it doesn't matter. DiNozzo and I have lots of time."

"We can even take shifts." Tony grinned.

Gibbs thought. "Hmm... yeah. I can get coffee that way."

Juliet looked at them with disgust. "Do whatever you like. I didn't do anything."

"Well, you see. You've already confessed to the attempted murder and torture of a federal agent." Gibbs smirked. Juliet's face turned red with anger.

"And we have enough evidence to prove that you killed Steven Murray." Tony continued. "Not to mention that your partner in the other five murders will instantly testify against you. He doesn't want to be the only one getting punished for those crimes."

"I didn't kill Steve, or anyone else."

"OK. Accomplice in murder. Doesn't change your situation that much."

"I don't have anything to do with Steve's death. We'd only been together for one night."

"Isn't it better to say that you forced yourself to him?" Tony asked casually.

"What's the big deal? It was just one night. He could've just accepted me." She stated angrily. "We had fun. I can say that he was enjoying it. Then suddenly that crazy bitch found us together and the next day Steve was dead." She shouted. "She was so weak that she couldn't even feel content for her success. She just had to kill herself. That bitch."

Gibbs' and Tony's demeanor darkened.

"You killed them both, didn't you?" Tony asked.

"I said I didn't kill anyone." She gritted out. "Lisa's the one who killed her boyfriend. The other night, I went to Steve's place to talk to him - "

"To assault him again, you mean?" Tony's voice was filled with disdain.

She turned her gaze to Gibbs. "I found Lisa at his house. The guy was dead and she was still beating him."

"The craziness runs in the family, I guess." Tony said sarcastically. It seemed like both sisters were almost the same, it just had taken different reasons for them to show their true personality.

"I'm nothing like her." She pounded her fist on the table. "I changed my name because I didn't want to have anything to do with that bitch."

Tony snorted. "The way you talk, I'd swear you were a virgin, if I didn't know better."

"You son of a bitch." She lost her control and jumped forward to hit Tony. Easily Tony and Gibbs grabbed her and pinned her down.

"You think we should add this one to her list of crimes?" Tony pushed her back to her seat with his good arm.

"That would be lost in the long list, anyway." Gibbs shrugged as he sat down. "Tell us where your sister is."

"I told you, she's dead. I didn't even touch her worthless body."

"Where is she?"

"Her body you mean?" She smirked. There was no trace of sadness for losing her only family on her face or in her voice.

'She really is sick.' Tony couldn't help but think that.

"Give me a piece of paper. Would you?" She leaned forward." I'll write the address for you. It's better if you collect her freaking body. I'm not that heartless." She chuckled at her own words.

Gibbs stood up and turned towards the mirror. "Bring her a piece of paper and get the address, then take her confession."

"You can't keep me long in here." She said confidently.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." Tony said before leaving the interrogation room with Gibbs, just as McGee and Ziva entered the room.

"She wasn't even sad about losing her only family. Just what could happen to someone to turn them into a monster like her?" Tony said once he was alone with Gibbs in the corridor.

"People always have a choice. This has been her choice. Having mental issues just helped it." He replied. "You did well, DiNozzo." He smiled.

"Thanks, Boss. I actually feel good." He smiled back, then Abby walked out of the observation room; her eyes rimmed red.

"Abs? What's wrong? Did those two idiots say anything to you?" Gibbs asked, immediately changing to the protective mode.

"What? No." She sniffed. "I don't know why I started crying. I just couldn't stop my tears when I saw her jump towards Tony. The images of that footage came to my mind and I just lost my control." She sniffed again.

Tony hugged her with his good arm. "I'm sorry you had to watch it, Abby."

"And I'm sorry you had to feel It." Her voice was muffled with her face buried in Tony's broad shoulder.

"Alright, enough with mushy stuff." Gibbs growled and Tony let Abby go with a smile

"So they didn't say anything?" Gibbs nodded his head towards the interrogation room, showing that he was talking about McGee and Ziva.

"No. They were too shocked, I guess; which is good. I think they really are sorry. You can't just let them off the hook, yet. But I think you can start to trust them a little and hey, don't let them know that. I mean of course, if you're OK with that, Tony. I know that I won't stop giving them hell." She smirked.

"No, I think it's OK, Abs. They showed up when they weren't asked. Seems like they really wanna prove themselves. Plus, they had turned down the toothpick's offer to be transferred to another team with a higher position than Probies."

Gibbs' raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know that?"

Tony smirked. "I still have my sources, Boss."

"Inside the director's office?" Gibbs shook his head in amusement.

"WOW, did they really do that?" Abby said incredulously. "Maybe we should give them another chance."

"We have already given them more than a second chance, or they wouldn't be here right now." Gibbs said as he stalked out of the corridor. "Come on, DiNozzo. We still have work to do. And I don't mean paperwork. We'll leave that to the Probies. We need to get the Lieutenant's statement, too."

Tony grinned at that. "On your six, Boss." He put his free arm around Abby's shoulder and led her out.

"I'm not gonna let my defenses down, before you say so, Tony. I'll always have your back. You know that, right?"

"I know, Abs." He kissed the top of her head. "And thanks for that. I don't think I could get out of this one if it wasn't for you guys. I owe you big time."

"Hey, what are friends for? But, will you buy me an extra large Caf-Pow? And don't tell Gibbs, because then he wouldn't let me drink it and he would give you headslaps and -"

"I'll buy that for you, Abs and it'll be just between you and me. As long as you don't get yourself drowned in Caf-Pows." Tony laughed.

He actually was happy. It almost felt like that a burden had been lifted off his shoulders.

All in a span of one day he had arrested Juliet and had proved to himself that he was able to bounce back again. He felt more confident now that he had been able to have Gibbs' six when it mattered.

And it felt even better when he thought about the last few days. Gibbs' words and Abby's supports; Ducky's help and everything else were just some more needed proof for him, showing that he had people around who really cared about him and were there for him when he was wounded, physically and emotionally. They were there and they'd made sure that he'd be fine, even when he had given up on himself. And now he was ready to stand on his own two feet again and be sure that he wouldn't fall down.

After all, it's true, that 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.'

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-The End-


A/N:

Alright, that's it. I'm pretty sure that I've explained everything. (I've already told you how I feel about extending a story with no good reason!)

It's clear that things between Tony, McGee and Ziva won't return to normal overnight; it takes a lot of time. But you know that I gotta leave the story here, because 'happily ever after' is usually just for fairy tales! ;)

Well, at least now Tony isn't so mad at them, anymore. :D

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Anyways, I'm REALLY glad you liked this story and thank you all for sticking with me. Your comments, PMs -and everything else- have always meant a lot to me. :D

A HUGE thanks to my awesome Beta-Reader, XX-Samantha-XX. You rock, girl. :)

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Hey, please don't forget to tell me what you think of the last chapter! :D .. And I'd love to know if you've any suggestions for any other stories. :)

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